Christmas 2021: Love Is On The Way

One of my favorite songs among the many beautiful Advent pieces I have sung over the years is Marty Haugen’s arrangement of “People Look East,” with the lyrics of the poet Eleanor Farjeon. It is the song from which I took the lyric which inspired this year’s Christmas card (right). The full verse of the song quoted above reads:

Birds though you long have ceased to build
guard the nest that must be filled.
Even the hour when wings are frozen
God for fledgling time has chosen.
People look East and sing today,
Love the Bird is on the way!

You can hear the whole song here:

I was drawn to the image of God as a bird who, even in the seemingly inhospitable time of winter, establishes a nest where a young fledgling grows to prepare for its first flight. The image is, of course, a reference to Christ who is born into a similarly inhospitable time and place and grows into the fullness of his divine mission.

It is important for us to hold this image before our minds and hearts this holiday season. Especially when we may ourselves in inhospitable circumstances in our lives, Christ the fledgling can provide vision to see through those difficulties. In times when it seems our own wings are frozen in place due to past or present hurts, losses, or brokenness, we can hear again the Christmas story’s call to peace and to a new path. The real and many losses we all have known, especially during these very difficult years of pandemic, don’t disappear because of a new perspective, but we can start to see them as part of a larger story of hope. We ourselves, or those we love, have experienced the inhospitality, cynicism, hatred and violence which have spread like a spiritual pandemic in our society and world. However, the mystery of Christmas reminds us that Christ also entered into such a world of “sin and sorrow” and through his life, death and resurrection transformed it, and has transformed us. “He comes to make his blessings flow!” (from “Joy to the World”)

As we gather in our communities of faith and among our families and loved ones this holy season, let us take some time to “look East” – to the place of dawn, beauty, seeking, new visions and new dreams – and find ways to align with this hope.

Ministry Resourcing

This past year, I was able to read Pope Francis’ recent book, Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future. In it, he commented on the enforced “stoppage” that COVID brought to the world and how, even in the midst of profound suffering, it enabled the possibility of gratitude and new vision:

“A ‘stoppage’ can always be a good time for sifting, for reviewing the past, for remembering with gratitude who we are, what we have been given, and where we have gone astray. These are moments in life that can be ripe for change and conversion…. As in the Covid lockdown, those moments generate a tension, a crisis that reveals what is in our hearts….

[W]hen you’re suffering an internal or personal crisis; you need to find people who are wise, who have been through the fire, people who can help you navigate what is to come. In every personal ‘Covid,’ so to speak, in every ‘stoppage,’ what is revealed is what needs to change: our lack of internal freedom, the idols we have been serving, the ideologies we have tried to live by, the relationships we have neglected. What is the greatest fruit of a personal Covid? I’d say patience, sprinkled with a healthy sense of humor, which allows us to endure and make space for change to happen.” (pp. 35-36)

The Pope’s remarks have helped me reflect on the impact of the past 20 months in the world of Catholic lay ministry. My work with the USCCB Subcommittee on Certification for Ecclesial Ministry and Service over the past two years has highlighted both the promise and the perils confronting professional lay ministry in the Church.

Even in the midst of the challenging impacts of our viral and social pandemics, the ministry of the Gospel is being accomplished. The uncertainty and fear brought about by COVID-19 and all of its global impacts remains, but slowly, inexorably, we pray it is receding. In its wake, things are perhaps altered in ways we couldn’t imagine before, and many challenges remain. This is no less true in the Church, especially for lay ministers. But the dedicated work of many in our church is fostering new dreams and visions, new ministerial approaches and enormous creativity as well. I am grateful that the subcommittee with which I work has sought to respond to these needs:

In addition to continuing listening sessions with national ministry organizations begun last year to understand the challenges and opportunities this difficult time has brought to them, this fall, our subcommittee granted re-approval to updated chaplaincy competencies developed by the National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC). These updates also included new Diocesan Pastoral Care Competencies for the Sick, the Homebound and Older Adults. The subcommittee also approved newly developed criminal justice pastoral care and prison ministries competencies for a wide range of ministries among those affected by incarceration. These competencies were submitted by the NACC in collaboration with the Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition (CPMC). Together these organizations are working to resource dioceses and other organizations and to network the wide array of Catholic prison ministries efforts across our country, even in the altered ministry landscape of the pandemic. To date over 100 diocesan prison ministries leaders have expressed interest! I encourage you to read more about these efforts in the links above. You can also download copies of the new competencies and learn more about these efforts on the websites of the NACC and CPMC. 

I was also able to represent the subcommittee in consultations or presentations with various organizations and to participate in various (mostly virtual) events throughout the past year. Each of these organizations and efforts, according to their own mission and work, has provided or expressed support of the work of ministry formation standards or has found value in the resources our office offers:

• V Encuentro
• Association for Graduate Programs in Ministry
• Association of U.S. Catholic Priests
• Catholic Apostolate Center
• Catholic Social Ministry Gathering
• Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition
• Diocese of Charleston
• Diocese of Syracuse
• Federación de Institutos Pastorales
• Federal Bureau of Prisons
• National Association for Lay Ministry
• National Association of African Catholics in the U.S.
• National Association of Catholic Chaplains
• Peyton Institute for Domestic Church Life and the National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministers
• Crucial Conversations on “Sustaining a Healthy Ministerial Vineyard” hosted virtually by St. John’s University, Collegeville

You can learn more about the ongoing work of this subcommittee and my office which supports their work at usccb.org/certification, including several videos added over the past year discussing the importance of standards for preparing lay ministers for their important work in the church, especially those in roles of leadership. Also be sure to check my own News & Blog page for reflection videos on readings for Catholic Mass which appear on the USCCB website as well.

Perisphere Media 

My engagement with Perisphere Media has continued to be a further source of gratitude. Ongoing opportunities to collaborate with Matt Smith and this dedicated team working to enhance the web presence and digital communications efforts of many small business and nonprofits across the country has been a joy for many years. Perisphere Media also hosts and maintains this website as a vital tool to share my professional activities and designers on our team have helped produce my Christmas cards for many years.

Consultation Services

Those of you who are engaged in ministry work, who have a need for theological expertise or research and are looking for an experienced consultant in these areas, I encourage you to contact me at [email protected]. If you are a nonprofit of any type or a small business in need of strategic engagement regarding your website or online presence, consider Perisphere Media for your needs. Again, please reach out to me or to [email protected] and I or my colleagues will be happy to discuss further with you!